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Determined Thompson Valley girls basketball wins big

Eagles off to 4A second round

By Brian Ayers For the Reporter-Herald

Posted:
02/22/2012 10:40:16 PM MST

Thompson Valley sophomore Lexy Schoonover.

In a chippy game, Thompson Valley High School's girls basketball team opened the Class 4A State Tournament with a chip on its shoulder. The Eagles, winners of four straight heading into its home game Wednesday night, thought they deserved better than a No. 8 seed. They'll get no argument from Frederick after 57-28 blowout that featured 11 different TV scorers.

"We wanted to prove that we deserved a higher seed, and we're making a good effort to prove that we deserve to go further in state," said Thompson Valley forward Lexy Schoonover, who finished with 10 points. "Our main objective was to work on defense, because defense turns into offense, and that turns into winning games."

The Eagles' defensive pressure sped the Warriors up on offense and forced them into 30 turnovers on the night. Even when Thompson Valley went more than four minutes without a bucket in the second quarter, Frederick couldn't get any closer than five points. A 6-0 run over the final 1:05 of the first half, sparked by Schoonover, put the Warriors in a hole their offense wasn't equipped to handle.

Schoonover got off to a slow start for Thompson Valley, missing her first five shots from the floor, but when the Eagles needed someone to step up, the sophomore turned it on. Leading 15-10 but just 1-of-14 from the floor over the first five minutes of the second period, she attacked the basket and knocked down two free throws to get her and TV untracked. At 1:05, she sank a 15-footer, and on Frederick's return trip up the court, she came up with a steal and hit Lauren Mickelson for an easy layup. Her putback near the buzzer gave the Eagles a 23-10 lead at the half.

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"I just kept thinking about the next (shot)," Schoonover said of her slow start. "You can go through a slump -- everybody has them -- but you can get out of it, too, and I did."

Cassie Baalke led the Eagles with 11 points and got them rolling from the perimeter in the first quarter. All four of TV's field goals in the opening stanza came from downtown.

"They were sitting in a zone, and we're a good-shooting team," Baalke said. "We started hitting them from the outside, and once they adjusted, we changed it up and started going inside."

Baalke said the Warriors' frustration was evident, particularly in the second half when the Eagles outgunned Frederick 34-18.

"We noticed them talking and bickering on the floor, so we just used it to our advantage, kept pushing and they couldn't handle it," Baalke said.

Thompson Valley coach Chad Walker said fatigue may have also been a factor for Frederick. The Eagles featured a 10-player rotation most of the game, and he got all 12 of his players in the game. He was particularly impressed with the way his underclassmen finished the game -- many of whom play JV -- in an up-tempo, 20-point fourth quarter.

"Those JV girls off the bench, man, they can flat get out and get after it," Walker said. "When they're in, you better be ready to run. We knew that if we could come out and run with 10 kids, we're going to get other teams pretty tired, and we were able to do that tonight."

Thompson Valley will face Moffat County, a No. 3 seed, at Centaurus on Friday night at 5 p.m.

"Our girls, and our whole conference is playing with a chip on their shoulder right now because our conference doesn't feel like we got the respect that we wanted," Walker said. "So when we play against a team from another conference, we're going to try to take care of business."